BANGKOK, 1 May 2015 – The Ministry of Commerce has revealed that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will soon release its updated Special 301 Report, which includes a watch list of nations with high levels of copyright infringement activities.
The ministry expected Thailand to remain in the Priority Watch List (PWL) for the eighth year in a row. The ministry claimed that the U.S. considered Thailand’s efforts to combat copyright infringement to be insufficient. The judgment was based on the Kingdom’s relaxed punishment for Intellectual Property offenders and the number of counterfeit goods still on the market.
Deputy Commerce Minister Apiradee Tantraporn said that since the U.S. placed the Kingdom in its watch list in 2007, Thailand had been working to address the issue. She cited two regulations related to copyright infringement that have been amended and enforced.
Ms. Apiradee said that officials have pushed forward in eradicating copyright infringement goods in high-risk areas, such as Khlong Thom Market in Bangkok. She added that authorities recently incinerated 1,300 tons of contraband.
The Deputy Commerce Minister revealed that another measure the Kingdom has taken to crack down on copyright infringement is the reduced turnover to register intellectual property from 24 months to 12 months. More than 4,000 cases of copyright infringement have been legally processed in 2014.
Ms. Apiradee expressed her hope that the U.S. would acknowledge the improvements made by the Kingdom and remove the nation from the PWL soon.
